A Gbagyi monarch, Chief Samuel Yabusan, has decried the absence of land to build and farm in his domain. The lack of farmland follows federal government’s decision to make Abuja the seat of government.
Speaking exclusively to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND at his palace in Jabi, the monarch, who has been on the throne for 25 years, said that although his subjects were willing to be resettled, the authorities of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), has not been able to resettle them.
He averred that monies had been budgeted for the resettlement of indigenes in the past, but said that he was not in the position to speak on what happened to the funds and how they were channelled as that was the duty of the Department of Resettlement and Compensation in the FCDA.
He recalled that when the Federal Capital Territory was moved from Lagos to Abuja, the federal government negotiated with the Gbagyis that occupied Wuse and resettled them to Tafa local government of Niger State.
He decried the development where his subjects could neither farm nor build in their present abode as the authorities have not been able to provide them with an adequate resettlement site.
According to Yabusan, ‘’We were initially taken to Jibi, but when we saw what they had for us, we rejected it because there was no land for farming and expansion, just as the houses were too small.’’